“Rex” is due out this summer from Image Comics. Under the deal, TenNapel (“Earthworm Jim”) can be called upon to provide an adapted script for the novel should the studio be inclined to ask for it.

The project is being developed for Universal-based helmer Tom Shadyac (“Bruce Almighty”), but it’s unclear if Shadyac will helm or just produce the film, which has no screenwriter aboard.

“Rex” follows a young, nearly friendless boy who loses his golden retriever in a car accident. Devastated, he is sent by his father to recover on his grandfather’s dairy farm, where he befriends a Tyrannosaurus rex.